Translator: CinderTL
Before little black arrived, Feng Qi slipped out of Star City Shelter.
His next destination: the Scarlet Secret Base hidden within the city ruins.
A long-standing question was finally answered: why Suction Cup always lingered in that area.
Because she was born within the Secret Base itself.
In the normal timeline, the Scarlet Research Institute was repeatedly suppressed by dark forces, eventually fleeing into the Secret Base.
This Secret Base had been the Scarlet Research Institute's carefully prepared escape route all along.
Though the public face of the Scarlet Research Institute had vanished, it had transformed into an underground resistance force, continuing to exist in the shadows.
Perhaps the answers to his many questions could be found within the Scarlet Secret Base.
What if, in this timeline, the Scarlet Research Institute's Secret Base was discovered and destroyed, preventing Suction Cup's birth?
Feng Qi: ...
"Don't jinx it."
Rolling his eyes, he set off eastward along the familiar route.
Though the landscape had changed, he wasn't worried.
As long as he maintained the general direction, he was confident he could find the Scarlet Secret Base.
After walking for an unknown duration, he finally left the burial ground.
Ahead lay the dilapidated remains of a city. In the distance, a hazy Blood Moon hung high above, bathing the entire metropolis in crimson light, casting an eerie and sinister glow over the ruins.
To his surprise, a camp had appeared at the edge of the city ruins.
This camp was utterly bizarre. Green flames burned atop every structure, making them seem more like living entities than buildings, as they slowly shifted their positions.
Figures could be seen wandering outside the structures, but the distance was too great to clearly identify what kind of creatures they were.
Driven by curiosity, he immediately asked:
"Narrator, scout the situation. Do we need to take a detour?"
Scouting complete. Approximately 76 humanoid domain creatures detected. If you're up for it, I'm fine too. An early vacation sounds pretty sweet. Thanks, boss.
Feng Qi: ...
Hearing the Narrator's response, Feng Qi felt a pang of embarrassment.
He decided to take a detour, bypassing the camp and entering the city ruins from the side.
Crouching low, he advanced a short distance and gained a clearer view.
The structures within the camp appeared to be made of flesh and blood, their surfaces constantly writhing like the fleshy caves he had seen in the abandoned city.
Green flames atop each building served as power sources, continuously drawing in heaven and earth spiritual energy.
Suddenly, the flames atop the central structure surged, and a ghostly green eye materialized at its core. A beam of light abruptly swept across Feng Qi.
Though the light caused no discomfort, Feng Qi was startled.
Oh no, you're done for! This structure seems to have a sensory function that detects creatures within a certain radius. You've been discovered—time to bolt!
Without hesitation, Feng Qi sprinted north.
Simultaneously, a group of figures emerged from the camp.
Had Feng Qi seen them, he would have recognized them immediately: the Goat-Headed Demons he had encountered before.
These Domain Creatures possessed antelope-like heads, human torsos, deer-like lower bodies, goat hooves, and scorpion tails tipped with venomous barbs that burned with eerie green flames.
Now, a pack of about twenty of them was pursuing him relentlessly.
Glancing back at the situation, Feng Qi channeled his psychokinesis, pushing his running speed to another level.
Compared to combat, his greatest strength lay in escape. After all, the Dream Realm was teeming with creatures capable of killing him.
What puzzled him was the Goat-Headed Demons' sudden aggression. In his memory, they were notoriously cowardly, often fleeing at the mere sight of little black without even engaging in battle. Why were they now actively hunting him?
Narrator: You need to get a grip on reality. little black could wipe out their entire clan. Can you? A common trait among intelligent creatures is their ability to assess the strength of friend or foe—or, put bluntly, to bully the weak and fear the strong. They're chasing you because they see you as an easy target. If little black were here, they'd be the ones running.
Feng Qi: ...
The Narrator's words stung, but they rang true.
Clearly, the Goat-Headed Demons had marked him as prey, hence their relentless pursuit.
Without activating his Blood Source Ability, his running speed was no match for these creatures.
Realizing he might be overtaken, Feng Qi steeled his resolve.
He had originally planned to use his Blood Source Ability for hunting, hoping to acquire another innate ability. But survival now took precedence.
With that thought, he immediately activated his Blood Source Ability.
As his heart rate surged, crimson mist began to seep from his heart, slowly enveloping his body. Soon, he was completely shrouded in the bloody haze, his muscles rapidly bulking up as he ran.
The muscular growth stretched his frame, increasing his height to over two meters.
The sudden physical transformation destabilized his stride, causing him to stumble and tumble across the ground for over ten meters.
But as soon as he regained his footing, he resumed running.
His speed had now dramatically increased, each stride covering more than twice the distance of his previous steps.
The surging power coursing through him even tempted him to turn and fight back.
But he quickly dismissed the thought. Against twenty-odd Goat-Headed Demons, he had no chance of victory; escape remained his only viable option.
Fueled by the Blood Source Ability, his speed surpassed that of the Goat-Headed Demons, gradually widening the gap between them.
To his surprise, the demons refused to relent, relentlessly pursuing him.
They occasionally emitted piercing shrieks, as if summoning their prey to return.
As he continued to flee, Feng Qi noticed something amiss.
While the western horizon remained shrouded in mist, the northern path ahead was littered with strange, colorful eggs. He could clearly see living organisms wriggling inside each shell.
As Feng Qi approached a brown egg, it suddenly exploded, and a twisted creature lunged at his face.
The creature was emaciated, dragging a short tail behind it. Its skin was brown and covered in slime, and its expression was ferociously twisted.
Fortunately, Feng Qi was prepared. He threw a swift punch, striking the twisted monster squarely.
Splat!
The twisted creature instantly dissolved into a bloody mist.
But the mist wasn't absorbed by him. Instead, it rapidly merged into the nearest egg, which then cracked open to release an even larger twisted monster that lunged at him again.
Left with no choice, he threw another punch.
What followed sent chills down Feng Qi's spine.
Like dominoes toppling, egg after egg shattered, unleashing a swarm of twisted monsters that swarmed him from all directions, making it impossible to advance.
Even more troubling was that these twisted creatures merged upon death, gradually forming monsters larger and stronger than himself.
If I'm not mistaken, these eggs are all part of a single entity. Killing individual ones is pointless. Don't go any further, or you'll die without even knowing how.
Heeding the Narrator's warning, Feng Qi immediately turned back, hacking his way through the swarm as he asked, "Narrator, you said these eggs are all part of a single entity? What do you mean?"
It seems a powerful lifeform divided its body into countless fragments, then nurtured them like venomous insects, with the ultimate goal of achieving self-unification and breaking through its original power limits.
For example, a powerful domain creature might discover its strength has reached a plateau. To overcome this, it could divide each of its cells into separate lifeforms, allowing each cell to devour heaven and earth spiritual energy and grow. After hatching, these cells would engage in mutual slaughter and consumption. When one cell devoured all the others, it would become a brand-new lifeform with greatly enhanced power—a form of self-transcendence.
Hearing the Narrator's explanation, Feng Qi was horrified.
"If each cell is a lifeform, how powerful must its original body have been?"
I'm just using cells as an analogy. It doesn't necessarily mean actual cells. I'm simply saying it divided its life force into countless fragments. Whether they're cells or something else, I'm not sure.
"Understood!"
Realizing the path ahead was impassable, he had no choice but to retreat.
As the twisted monsters around him grew increasingly powerful, he began to feel the pressure.
It seemed the only safe path was eastward.
The northward route appeared to be a dead end. If he fought to its conclusion, he might face the terrifying lifeform the Narrator had described—the one that had achieved "life unification."
The thought alone made his scalp tingle.
But the journey back was no easier.
The twisted creatures around him grew stronger as they continued to merge. When a twisted creature over three meters tall appeared before him, he could no longer advance smoothly.
Two consecutive punches failed to knock it down. He immediately decided to use his dwindling psychokinesis to leap over the twisted creature.
But just as he was about to activate his psychokinesis, the Goat-Headed Demon arrived in pursuit.
Several balls of eerie green flames slammed into the twisted monster blocking his path, instantly reducing it to a bloody mist that was devoured by the surrounding twisted creatures.
Stunned by the sight, Feng Qi froze.
"Are they helping me?"
Not necessarily. It's like when hunters are chasing prey and see wolves about to devour it. The hunters would naturally drive off the wolves to prevent their hard-earned kill from being taken.
Feng Qi: ...
With wolves ahead and tigers behind, he felt his life might end prematurely.
If Suction Cup were here, he wouldn't be afraid.
But Suction Cup wasn't here, and with his own abilities, escaping this place seemed nearly impossible.
Just then, the Goat-Headed Demon charged straight at him, quickly surrounded him, and began retreating outward with him at the center.
Seeing this, Feng Qi decided not to act.
Attacking the Goat-Headed Demon now would be unwise. He needed to escape first and then figure out how to get out of this dangerous situation.
As he retreated, the endless horde of twisted creatures suddenly stopped their pursuit.
Looking back, he saw the twisted demons curling up, their bodies calcifying as if they were about to revert to their egg-like forms.
"What's happening?"
It seems that when the super lifeform divided itself, it imprinted a territorial consciousness onto each fragmented entity to prevent them from leaving this area and causing it to lose power.
In simple terms, energy lost in battles within the fixed territory isn't truly lost; it merely becomes part of another lifeform. However, if they stray too far, they exceed the energy absorption range and become permanently lost energy.
Having finally understood the situation, Feng Qi clenched his fists and glared at the Goat-Headed Demon beside him, preparing for a desperate fight.
To his surprise, the Goat-Headed Demons suddenly raised their hands, murmured something, and knelt to the ground before him.
Feng Qi: ...
Seeing this, he, who had already assumed the stance of the Fierce Tiger Fist, was utterly bewildered.
"Narrator, what's going on now?"
How am I supposed to know...? Could it be related to the deity statue you shattered and absorbed last time?
"Whoosh!" The kneeling Goat-Headed Demons simultaneously raised their hands again and bowed even lower.
"Narrator, translate what they're saying in this gibberish."
They're calling you an idiot.
Feng Qi: ...
(End of the Chapter)